Hello. My Name is Graeme Bisseker

I am very excited to have been offered and to accept my new role in Deaf Education.

A Little about me…..

I am married to Joanna – she runs the Early Childhood and Entry to Teaching course at Middleton Grange School in Christchurch. We have six children and 9 grandchildren.

My wife and I fostered children via the old Dept. Social Welfare before we had our own kids and I then started a 17-year career as a CYFS Social Worker in residence. Within that I set up and ran the first Care & Protection facility in CHCH. I ran the secure care facility for 2 years and set up the first adolescent sex offender treatment programme in NZ.

From CYFS and for 6 years I was the National Director for Drug-Arm NZ, I then become the General and Change Manager for Youth 198 in Christchurch, an exemplar community youth health service. From there I was a Project Coordinator for Pegasus Health over siting a large primary health care contract to 400 high risk youth in Canterbury.

I had started retraining with my Grad. Dip in Human Resources over that time and I then started by last role as HR Manager for Canterbury’s largest community mental health provider – over siting at one stage around 170 staff - support staff through to professional/clinical roles.

In behind all this my wife and I, and some others via a community trust, set up two large preschools in our community. I looked after all HR and organisational development matters, and spent 6 years on a national executive committee for early childhood. We did this for around 20 years.

I am so looking forward to becoming part of your community and bringing the skills and abilities from a past focused in the Health, Welfare, Education sectors to assist grow a strong future for deaf education.

Graeme